FROM THE SIDELINES:  By LARRY SPEGAR

Southern Columbia Rolls On With Convincing 41-7 Win Over Steelton Highspire

     On Saturday afternoon December 3, Southern Columbia and Steelton Highspire hooked up for the Eastern final A state playoff game at Hershey Park Stadium.  It was the eighth straight appearance for the Tigers of Southern Columbia in the Eastern Finals.  Talk about a decade of dominance.  The Tigers, largely regarded as the Beast in the East, are also on the road to establish a record tying fourth consecutive state championship. 

     From the outset of this game on Saturday, defense controlled the early going.  In fact, it was the Steelton offense which struck first in the opening quarter courtesy of a 72 yard TD pass which put the Rollers ahead 7-0 in the early going.  This TD together with a hard hitting defense served notice that the Tigers were in for a battle.  Southern countered in the early going of the second quarter with a traditional Southern drive ending with a score, but the conversion bounced off the left upright and Steelton held on to a 7-6 lead.

Southern took momentum again by putting together a hard working, grinding and quick

methodical drive which appeared to put the Rollers on their heels.  However, on a nice QB keeper by Kyle Connaghan, the always reliable leader let the ball slip from his grasp on the 2 yard line and the ball bounced into the end zone and out of bounds for a touchback which gave the ball over to Steelton.  Was this a sign of things to come this day?  Would Southern be unable to top the Rollers with time winding down in the first half and Steelton looking forward to preserving a one point advantage at the halftime break?

     The answer was soon to follow.  With only 2 minutes remaining before the half, this is the point in the game where the momentum shifted monumentally in favor of Southern.  Southern’s defense, which played stellar, with the exception of the earlier 72 yard scoring strike, forced a 3 and out by the Roller offense and then blocked the Roller punt setting up ideal field position with only 1 minute remaining in the half.  The Tigers showed brilliant cool and composure capitalizing on the final play with a 5 yard burst by Henry Hynoski over the right side for a score which put the Tigers ahead for the very first time in the game.  Southern would never look back as Hynoski would add another powerful run for the successful conversion and Southern led 14-7 at the half.

     The game still had an entire second half to play but it was apparent that this was a mighty blow to Steelton.  The Rollers never seemed to recover as Southern displayed a mighty attack on both sides of the ball in the second half securing TDs by Hynoski, Connaghan and Nick Gallinot which left the Rollers scoreless in the second half.  Southern’s four second half TDs were complimented by a classy kneel down by QB Connaghan bringing the final tally to 41-7.

     If someone were to say that Southern would win by this margin at the start of the game, or even at the beginning of the second quarter, it would be nearly impossible to believe.  But witnessing the resilience, execution, motivation and work ethic of the Tiger players and coaching staff during the course of the game, and particularly the last few minutes of the second quarter and the second half, it was obvious that Southern Columbia is indeed a well prepared, coached, motivated, talented and energetic group which seems to always know how to win games, and especially in the midst of a mighty battle.  At first what appears to be an extremely close game, the Tigers have a way of figuring out exactly what works and what is needed to win the game and move forward to the ultimate prize in PA high school football; the State Championship.  Congratulations to both schools on a fine season and Good Luck to Southern Columbia in another quest for gold at Hershey this coming week in the State Finals.

Predictions For Week 15:  State Finals

     At first, let me congratulate all teams as the season draws to a close.  It was another great and remarkable year for high school football in Pennsylvania.  The finalists in all four divisions are fine representatives for their respective classes.  In what should be great matchups in all four classes, I will try to repeat a perfect 4-0 prediction as was true for the 2004 Finals.  Again, I’ll start by saying all 4 Finals should be hard fought and well deserving a PA State Championship.  And the PA State Championship trophy goes to…..

    A             Southern Columbia

   AA            South Park

 AAA           Pottsville

AAAA         McKeesport